Chapter 197

Sarah POV

In an unsubtle retaliation, of which I thoroughly approved, Zane got us a semi-private table at Chez Paulette, a human-centric restaurant in a section of the capital city informally dubbed Humantown. They specialized in French cuisine, unsurprisingly, and kept an excellent cellar of human-proof wines.

Even without the girls, Zane was zealous about security, and Buddy and Danielle were only the visible component of our security that afternoon. Ollie pulled up to the door, and before we could make it inside we’d had our photo taken about twenty times, if the number of raised phones were anything to go by.

Inside, every eye in the place was focused on us, and I thanked the goddess I’d now had enough experience in this to keep the smile on my face and take Zane’s arm as we were led to our table where Ella was waiting. She rose to join us with kisses on our cheeks and, of course, a dazzling smile.

“So lovely to see you! Only three chairs?”

“They girls had a playdate,” I said as a waiter held my chair and I sat. “I hope you’re not too disappointed.” A white napkin was whisked into my lap to cover my blue-and-white floral skirt. Zane got a black napkin for his dark pants.

She shrugged. “I wanted to ask Grace more about her voice lessons, but that can wait until next time.”

“Well, I’m here,” Zane said. “Is there anything in particular you’d like to know?”

“Well,” she said, echoing his tone playfully. “Is it true her teacher is Miss Carmen?”

“Yes.”

“I am constantly amazed by the reach your power and influence attain, Zane,” she said with wide eyes. “To be able to call on Miss Carmen herself is just incredible.”

“Actually, she came solely because of Grace’s talent.”

“I’m sure,” Ella said with just the hint of insincerity a little girl with low self-esteem would have picked up on.

“Excuse me,” said a young woman’s voice from beside Zane’s chair. We all looked up and around to see a beta girl of perhaps fourteen standing there nervously.

“Marribaum!” Zane exclaimed in pleasure. “You’re so tall!”

She laughed, a little less nervous now that she had been recognized. “I just had to say hello, Alpha Zane. I hope you don’t mind too much.”

“Not at all. And how is your mother? Please tell her not to worry about returning to the board until she feels completely ready.”

Marribaum laughed even more easily. “I think it will be soon. She’s going a little nuts being a stay-at-home mother.”

My attention was drawn away when two teenage human boys, a little pimply-faced, came up to Ella’s chair and asked for an autograph. I smiled, happy to be left to my menu, when I became aware of a presence at my own elbow.

I turned to see an alpha female I didn’t recognize. She had on a green suit with lace accents and just enough makeup to look polished and professional.

“Excuse me, Goddess-Mother Sarah,” she said as she held up her phone. “No one at the office will believe I saw you in person. May I have a selfie?”

“Certainly,” I said, putting my menu down.

She held out the phone, ducked her face down to mine, and said, “Say hi!”

“Hi!” I parroted dutifully.

“Thank you so much,” she said, straightening back up. “And thank you for everything you’re doing for the pack.”

“Thank you for the kind words.”

“They’re more than you deserve,” she said seriously, then smiled and went back to her rather excited-looking table. I noticed her two companions were both human and wondered if they’d sent the wolf among them on the “perilous” mission to my table.

The thought made me smile, and I absently looked up into a pair of furious brown eyes. I expected Ella to turn back instantly into a smiling supermodel, but she held my gaze with just a hint of a sneer before she softened rather than edited her expression.

“So now you too know what it’s like to be famous,” she cooed. “Never being allowed outside without security, never being able to finish a meal without a fan.”

“It comes with the territory,” I responded.

She gave me an appraising look I didn’t believe for a minute. My fate with her was already sealed. “True, Sarah.”

She looked over at Zane, who had gone back to his own menu. “How do you think the girls will handle it? The fame, I mean.”

Zane set his menu down as he composed his thoughts. It was a rather large and waffling menu, so it took a moment.

“They are alphas born to a Pack Alpha and their mate. I believe they have known for years—well Grace for years, Chloe for almost a year—that they have duties outside themselves, duties to the pack. For those duties, including being famous, they receive a great deal, and I hope they will decide on the whole that the exchange if worth it.”

“And if they don’t?”

“Excuse me, Miss Sarah,” said an elderly man’s voice from slightly behind me. I turned to see a human male leaning on a cane, but looking further up I saw any frailty of age had yet to reach the sparkle of his eyes.

“Yes?”

“I supposed if I were younger, I’d ask for your picture, and if I saw a little better, I’d ask for your autograph.”

I laughed.

“May I instead just say I am in awe of you?”

I tried to come up with something to say.

“It’s my wife, you see,” he said. “She passed a few weeks ago, well, three, and I miss her terribly. But she so enjoyed watching you this past year. She said you were the best of us, and she was wolf, a gamma, and so I know she meant all of us, and I, well, I just wanted to say it’s an honor to be in the same place as you, so, well, I just wanted to say it.”

Not even thinking about it, I placed my hand over the one on the handle of his cane. We weren’t supposed to touch people, or they us, but I couldn’t help it, and the gamble paid off. He smiled magnificently.

“May I ask your name?”

“It’s Belltrand, ma’am.”

“I thank the goddess for meeting you, Belltrand.”

His eyes glistened, and he nodded. “Yes, the goddess. Thank you.”

He stepped back and away then and walked off. I noticed no one met him on his way out.

“I hope you didn’t mind that too much, Miss Sarah,” a young man’s voice said to my other side, and I turned to see a human waiter looking after Belltrand fondly. “He used to come here with his wife all the time. We’re always so happy to see he’s doing OK.”

“What is the opposite of ‘mind’?” I asked, glad I wasn’t actually crying.

“Do you know what you’d like to order? Can I get you started on some drinks?”

“Wolf-proof vodka, Scortha, if you have it. Double, on the rocks. No twist,” Ella snapped.

The waiter, whose nametag read Bob, nodded and typed it into his POS. “Of course. He looked at me.

“Some human-proof Chardonnay would be perfect,” I said. “Do you have a house brand?”

“Absolutely.” He nodded again and typed, then met my eyes with a wink. “Though I have a feeling the owner will give you the good stuff he keeps in the back.”

I laughed again as he looked to Zane.

“I see you have thirty-year-old Macallan on your list.”

“We do indeed.”

“Neat.”

“Thank you, Alpha Zane,” Bob said with another nod and walked away.

“Should I try that?” I asked Zane, ignoring Ella’s little indrawn breath.

He shrugged elaborately, for him, not giving Ella any attention.

“One of the perks of fame: places tend to stock your favorite.”